Sailors in these pictures are using the Lee Straight Pull Rifle (formally known as the “Lee Rifle, Model of 1895, caliber 6-mm”).Though the Navy had adopted the more modern Winchester Springfield rifle by 1915, the Lee Rifle was still being used by training platoons. The artillery gun is believeved to be a 3-inch field gun.

St. Helena Naval Training Station was located in the Berkley section of Norfolk, across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk Naval Shipyard.The Navy stood up the facility in the 1890s as a boot camp for Navy recruits.The facility was soon considered to be too small to accommodate the thousands of new recruits needed for World War I.By 1917, the recruits were moved to the new Naval Operating Base Hampton Roads (modern-day Naval Station Norfolk).